A week quickly passed.
On this day, on the playground of Fairy Academy, three students were slowly and methodically sweeping the fallen leaves covering the ground. As Fairy Academy was a high-level magic school, work like cleaning was generally not required of the students; therefore, the behavior of these three was not a daily duty, but a punishment.
These three unlucky rogues were none other than Natsu, Gray, and Gajeel.
"Sweeping leaves every day is boring to death! I feel like I'm about to burn out..." Natsu complained incessantly while lazily swinging the broom in his hand.
Gajeel snorted and said: "You're complaining? Why don't you think about who we're being punished because of! If you hadn't broken the statue in front of the teaching building during our last fight, we wouldn't be stuck here cleaning!!"
Natsu immediately became indignant: "I didn't break it alone; you two have some responsibility as well, right?"
Gray retorted: "But the person who eventually crashed into and shattered the statue was you!"
Natsu fell silent at this.
The three of them fought frequently, so they had long ago established a rule: if public property was damaged during a fight, the direct perpetrator must bear full responsibility. On that day, during the brawl between Natsu, Gajeel, and Gray, Natsu had been kicked into the statue by their joint effort, shattering it; the responsibility should lie with him!
However, by an unfortunate stroke of luck, the scene of their brawl happened to be witnessed by the passing Grade Director, so this time Gray and Gajeel were unable to escape punishment either.
After a good while, Gajeel stopped his work and turned toward Natsu and Gray.
"I've finished my side. Are you guys done over there?"
Gray looked left and right and replied: "Almost there."
Natsu also looked left and right and said: "Did a little bit."
Gajeel and Gray: "??"
The punishment was supposed to be for you alone, yet you dragged us both into it. Fine. But now our punishment work is done, and you haven't moved an inch?
The two immediately gritted their teeth.
"Natsu, you bastard... what have you been doing all this time?!"
"Don't you know the Director is coming to check later! If he sees we haven't finished cleaning after so long, the punishment will be even more severe!!"
Natsu laughed nonchalantly: "What's the rush? It's not like cleaning these leaves is hard; wouldn't it be easier to just burn them all away with a fire!"
"The Director specifically instructed earlier that these leaves cannot be burned; they must be swept into the woods in the back and buried!"
"The Director isn't here right now. We can just burn the leaves before he arrives and then tell him they've already been buried in the woods."
"Are you an idiot? There's bound to be smoke if you set fire to the leaves. You'll be exposed instantly!"
"...Oh! Right! That makes sense!!"
Seeing Natsu's stupid expression, Gray and Gajeel were momentarily speechless, holding their foreheads in a mix of anxiety and anger.
Knowing that he likely didn't have enough time, Natsu had no choice but to speed up his work: "Dammit! Isn't the point just to clear the leaves? Why can't we use fire?"
"Of course it's to reduce air pollution and let the fallen leaves return to the earth as nutrients! All of this was clearly explained in class, right?!"
"Forget it, this guy spends most of his time in class sleeping. What do you expect him to remember? Not to mention Environmental Protection isn't even a core subject..."
In terms of combat power, the three were evenly matched; but when it came to academic subjects, Gray and Gajeel could easily crush Natsu.
"Speaking of which, the punishments before were always copying school rules or running laps. Why was it suddenly changed to cleaning the playground this time?"
"Probably to prepare for the school sports meet next month. I heard preparations have already begun."
"Sports meet? Oh oh oh... that's the thing that old hag Principal mentioned during the assembly here last week, right?"
Reminded by Gray, Gajeel also remembered: "I remember she said it happens once every four years? We weren't here the last time it was held, but Gray, you should have experienced it?"
"Yeah!"
"What do they do at that sports meet?"
Gray explained: "It's an event where the school sets up athletic projects and lets students compete against each other."
"But the use of magic is allowed during the competitions. So it's not just a contest of physical fitness, but also a clash of magic. It's actually quite interesting!"
An athletic event combining magic and physical fitness? That certainly sounded interesting!
"Then what kind of athletic projects will there be?"
"I heard the projects are different every time, and this year is only the third time it's been held, so I'm not clear on the details either. The specific projects will probably be announced next week."
Gray answered subconsciously, only realizing after he finished speaking that the voice asking was out of place. He turned his head to find that Natsu had stopped his work at some unknown point and had leaned in curiously; Gray's face turned even darker.
"I say, can't you just finish your own work properly before coming over to chat?"
Natsu took on an attitude of "letting it rot": "I've thought it through. Anyway, even if I rush now, there definitely won't be enough time. So I might as well finish it slowly!"
Gray and Gajeel: "..."
That makes so much sense, we actually can't refute it!
"Not good, the Director is here!"
Gajeel whispered a low warning. Natsu and Gray immediately turned their heads in unison, and sure enough, they saw that nightmare-like figure.
However, the Grade Director did not come to check the status of the trio's punishment. He was leading an adult who looked like a teacher, along with several students roughly the same age as the trio, walking past the edge of the playground and heading straight for the teaching building.
"Strange, he didn't come to check?"
"He must have other business. But who were those people following behind him just now? They don't look like people from our academy."
Gray's eyes flickered, and he said thoughtfully: "I remember... during the school assembly last week, didn't Principal Grandma say that exchange students from the Royal Capital Magic Academy would be coming this week?"
Gajeel realized: "There was such a thing. Could it be those people just now? I wonder if they will participate in the school sports meet next month?"
"I expect they will..."
The three continued to chat on their side, while in another area, the Grade Director they spoke of led the exchange student team from the Royal Capital Magic Academy toward the Dean's Office.
The two teachers in the front were exchanging various formalities, while several students in the back were also chatting in low voices.
"When we passed the playground just now, I think I saw someone there, and they were looking at us?"
"Just some students being punished with cleaning duty. Don't mind them!"
"How do you know?"
"I heard them, of course!"
Erik pointed to his pointed ears, a proud curve rising at the corner of his mouth.